


i can breathe water

by skyekingsleigh



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Jupiter, Canon Divergence, F/M, Romantic Fluff, camp alliance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 07:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyekingsleigh/pseuds/skyekingsleigh
Summary: In truth, he never should have drowned.





	i can breathe water

**Author's Note:**

> basically percy and annabeth don't get together at the end of tlo and they were tasked to go to camp jupiter to secure alliance between both camps. also, if I'm being completely honest, this is, like, me trying to get over my writer's block and therefore probably won't make any sense. lol.

In truth, he never should have drowned.

He can’t, really, he’s pretty sure it’s impossible, what with him being able to breathe underwater and all. In truth, he _probably_ should have came up with a different word for it, but he also can’t, because if this isn’t drowning then he sure as hell wouldn’t know what else it could be.

He should pull away. He should. But Annabeth was clutching the hairs at the back of his neck as if letting go would be physically torture, so he doesn’t break their kiss, he pulls her closer, because who the hell needs breathing, right?

It started out simply enough. Chiron had given them a quest–if you could even call it that. They were to go to Camp Jupiter, a Roman camp, to discuss peace treaties and alliance with their Praetors. The centaur would have gone himself if it weren’t for other more important matters he needed to attend. Percy would have refused to avoid any more encounters with Annabeth (ever since defeating Kronos, they had been too awkward to function properly around each other) but it’s _Annabeth_, and he couldn’t see himself in a quest without her intelligence and smartass remarks. Plus, he couldn’t let down Chiron.

So there they were, foreigners even though they haven’t left America, side by side like they’ve always been (although they weren’t an awkward, blushing mess last time).

The thing that probably shocked him the most was the indifference and–dare he say it– the disrespect the Romans showed Annabeth. They respected him enough; praised him as the ‘Son of Neptune’ and practically bowed down at his feet. Annabeth and a few others had told him before how he radiated a certain aura that made everyone else know just how powerful he is, but he never believed them–not until that moment, at least.

No matter how much they liked him, though, the way they kept brushing off Annabeth pissed him off. In his eyes, Annabeth was better than him and could probably kick his butt without batting an eyelid, but they hear ‘daughter of Athena’ and they disregard her presence. Annabeth was their camp leader, a fact that Percy hadn’t been shy to voice out to every person who decided to ignore her. The only person who acknowledged her with the respect that she deserves had been one of the Praetors, Jason Grace, the son of Jupiter. That hadn’t made Percy any happier.

“Minerva is a joke here,” Annabeth tells him bitterly over dinner one night. Her blonde hair was tied back in a high ponytail and she was wearing her orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. The color stood out amidst the sea of purple littering the mess hall, and Percy knew it was her own act of defiance. Now Percy wished he had done the same. He had lost count on how many times he had almost corrected someone whenever he was called ‘son of Neptune.’ He was the son of _Poseidon_, godsdammit. “This is taking longer than I anticipated.”

No matter how homesick he felt, though, he couldn’t deny that he was amazed to see demigods older than 25 in the Roman camp. There were communities, families of half-bloods in all ages, and there were _hundreds_. That alone surprised him. Percy found himself envious. They barely reached a hundred in Camp Half-Blood, and before coming to New Rome, he had believed demigods were very rarely hitting pass the late 20s much less 30s mark. He was wrong.

For a moment he entertained the thought of staying, of starting a family there, a future he had never dreamed possible for himself before. He looked at Annabeth then, in her bright orange shirt and stormy eyes, and he thought to himself, _maybe_. Surely he had saved the world enough times now. Surely he could take a break.

But no.

New Rome was a dream, but Long Island was home. That would never change for him.

“We thought Jason was the only one,” The other Praetor, Reyna, had approached him on their fifth day. He couldn’t get Annabeth away from the community library, so Percy had been alone, throwing stones at the lake behind what Percy presumed to be their training field. 

“What do you mean?” He frowned, pausing his arm mid-throw. 

“You big three kids, you exude your power from a mile away, you know? I thought it was only Jason, because, well, Hazel’s too innocent-looking to ever have that effect, but here you are.” 

It was nothing new to Percy’s ears, but he found himself flustered anyway. “You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve been told the exact same thing.” 

“It’s different with you, though,” Reyna continued. “Probably because you’re a stranger. But you have so much more power to unleash, and even without them now I have no doubt you could wash out this entire city with a snap of your fingers.”

Percy gulped but remained silent. He wasn’t used to people pointing out just how much destruction he could cause. 

“I guess I’m just saying this to give you an option,” her eyes gleamed at the suggestion, but she didn’t smile. “If you ever want to hone those powers, you know where to go.” She turned to walk away but turned around at the last minute. “Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to have the son of Neptune on our side.” 

Later when he relays the conversation to Annabeth, the demigod flushed to her ears and cursed him in Greek as if _he’d_ done something wrong. She proceeded to ignore him the rest of the day, and he learns not to tell Annabeth whenever a girl, Praetor or not, offers to help train his powers. Or something like that. 

“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?” Percy finds Annabeth later on the next day sparring with none other than Jason Grace, but he didn’t want to dwell on that fact, The guy reminded him too much of another blue-eyed, blonde haired demigod and based on his skills with a sword, he wasn’t far behind. It wasn’t a good comparison. 

Annabeth let out a big huff, managing to disarm the Praetor before turning to face him. “What?” 

Jason picked up his sword from the ground and offered a hand to the daughter of Athena. “You’re amazing.” 

Percy frowned at this, especially after seeing Annabeth turn red at the compliment. Before he could help himself, he cut them off. “Yeah she is. Annabeth,” he turns to her completely. “Can we talk? _Please_?” 

She rolled her eyes in true Annabeth fashion and turned to Jason. “You put up a good fight. Need to work on your sword-handling a little more, though. Excuse me while I talk to this Seaweed Brain.” 

The familiar nickname sent a flutter to his stomach. It also meant she wasn’t angry anymore, so that was always a good sign. He dragged her to the lake and forced her to sit down on the ground with him, before nudging her side. 

“Still mad at me?”  _For no particular reason_, he wanted to add, but decided it would cause another tiring argument that he just wasn’t in the mood for. Besides, they were in foreign land and the only familiar thing was each other, so he’d like to keep them civil at least. 

“I was never mad,” She tells him with a roll of her eyes. “Just…annoyed. And worried.” 

This time, Percy frowns. “About what? That I’m actually going to take up Reyna’s offer and stay here?” 

“Oh, you so want to.” Annabeth scoffs at him, but there’s a sad glint to her eyes. 

“Okay, so maybe I entertained the idea for a bit,” he admits, making her glare at him harsher. “But it wasn’t the training powers thing that kind of hooked me. It’s the life they get to live. I mean, have you seen a half-blood older than twenty back at camp? And they have a university, a library, a community. They have a future.”

Annabeth’s shoulders slump in defeat. “No one’s forcing you to go back, you know. If you really want to have a _future_ in New Rome, then stay.” 

“Do you really want me to, though?” He retorts, wondering where the sudden courage to hold her hand and kiss her came from but deciding not to question it because _gods_, it was about damn time.

“Does it really matter what I want?” She asks back, which resulted an exasperated ‘really?’ look from him before he leaned closer to her.

“Do you really have to ask?” He says then closes the gap between them in a kiss that was long overdue. And, well, if this is what if felt like, then he’d gladly drown.


End file.
